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USAF B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber (72201) 1:72 Modelcollect Once the concept of stealth was established by the mid 70s, the requirement for a deep penetration bomber that could evade radar was mooted, and proposals from two teams based upon flying wings were requested. Northrop won the contest, possibly due to their previous experience with the flying wing design of their earlier YB-35 and 49. The project was above secret for a good portion of its development, and with the advances in computer technology, it was no longer necessary to produce a faceted design, because the processor power needed for assessing the radar cross-section of curved surfaces was then available, resulting in a very smooth looking airframe. There were still a few jagged saw-tooth lines at the edges of panels to help with dissipation, but coupled with the Radar Absorbent Material (RAM) it has a radar cross section a tiny fraction of its size. The original requirement for the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) was 165 airframes, but dramatic rises in development costs and the fall of the Soviet Union caused a substantial reduction to a measly 21 airframes, but at a cost of $1bn each, that's hardly surprising. The delays also revived the ailing B-1B programme, which is such a graceful looking aircraft, it would have been a shame for it to not see service. Once the blanket of secrecy was lifted in the late 80s, it became the poster-child of the US technological superiority, and has been in service ever since, with a substantial avionics upgrade in the late noughties that gave it additional capabilities as well as an improved radar. It is an expensive aircraft to maintain, so its projected out-of-service date is a movable feast, but an unmanned bomber is currently alleged to be its eventual replacement, although with the B-52s scheduled to be in service after them, it's a case of who knows? The Kit Previously we had just one kit in this scale, and its teeth were beyond long – probably false at that age, so hearing about a newly tooled kit was great news for anyone wanting to build one. The old kit was renowned for being a bit of a swine to put together, and was also a bit light on detail and accuracy in places, all of which put a great number of owners of it (self included) off. Now we have a new kit, and it's a modern tooling from a company with a good reputation and although we're a bit late to the party, we're here now and very happy to have one to peruse. It arrives in a fairly large box, but then it does need one as it's a flying wing. Inside are seven sprues in a dark grey blue styrene, plus another six parts that make up the majority of the exterior of the airframe. The package is completed by a single clear windscreen part on its own sprue, a small sheet of pre-painted Photo-Etch (PE), a reasonably large decal sheet, and a glossy instruction booklet with the painting and markings guide at the rear. I don't usually talk about the interior packaging, but this time it's quite impressive, so I will. If it's the sort of thing that bores you to tears just skip to the next paragraph. You were warned! Inside the lower half of the box there is a laminated foam layer that has been custom cut to fit the six major external parts, two fuselage halves and four wing halves. It is a snug fit, and it would take a substantial impact to dislodge them, but take care when you pull them from the box so as not to bend any edges. There is a thin sheet of expanded foam material above and below this section that protects the parts from chaffing during transit either by the bottom of the box or the parts above, which is critical because the six parts aren't bagged. The other seven sprues are all bagged either separately or in pairs, which again protects them from damage and from any loose parts going walkabout in the meantime. The only thing that's missing is a piece of card to protect the small PE fret, but as this was at the bottom of the box with the decals and instruction booklet, there's not much chance of damage there. Ok, with the easily bored back with us, lets discuss the model in broad terms. Taking the main parts out and test fitting them together shows you just how big this thing is in 1:72, but as it has a wingspan of over 170 feet, that's probably only moderately surprising. The surface is nicely moulded with engraved panel lines that are there more from the fashion than through practicality, due to the airframe's smooth radar absorbent surface, although you are of course at liberty to fill or reduce their appearance with some filler primer if you wish, and some might consider them a little deep. After multiple layers of paint and varnish however, their appearance will be much reduced, especially if you have used a filler primer. The flying surfaces are separate, the engines are depicted as full length trunking, the cockpit is well detailed, as are the gear and weapons bays. A good well-rounded package with a hint of PE to get those instrument panels looking good. Construction begins predictably with the cockpit and crew area, which are linked. The floor is fixed to the aft bulkhead, and equipment housings are fitted around the sides. An archway leads to the office, which has low, wide consoles around the edges like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, into which the ladders for the ejection seats are fitted, with the three part seats affixing to the front. The seats are built from two halves, with a separate seat pan, so you will have a choice of either filling the seam down the back cushion, or you can hide it with some belts, which aren't included in case you were wondering. The PE console surfaces are distributed around the front and sides of the cockpit, with a grey background that has a lilac cast to it. I've found in the past that where there is a little variance between the background of PE parts and the colour you are supposed to use, that a fine brush with a little paint on it makes it pretty easy to blend them in, so it's nothing to worry about. The control columns are inserted into recesses in the floor, and then the instrument panel and coaming are covered with PE parts that fit onto the top of the cockpit tub. A scrap diagram shows the correct orientation with the coaming marked in red. As this is a blended wing bomber, the gear bays must be built up and installed in the lower fuselage (if you can call it that) before it can be closed up, as must the bomb bay. The gear bays are made up from four sides, and the struts are pinned between the sides in the lowered position for strength, with the bay roof added later - posing it wheels up may involve a little work. The bomb bay is built in a similar way, with a central divide, and the rotary bomb racks are constructed and filled with bombs ready to be installed between the front and rear bulkheads. This too has its curved roof fitted later on. The engine compartments have their walls installed as a single part with hinges added on each side, and then it's the three-part nose gear bay... installed in the nose of all places! The crew accessway is fabricated to the port side of the nose gear bay, with a moulded-in top ladder section and two fold-down lower sections, plus a portion of the wall, which links up with the cockpit, as you might expect. Before the fuselage can be glued closed, the engine nacelles are inserted into the apertures in the top of the fuselage, with optionally open or closed auxiliary doors, plus the refuelling port also able to be posed open or closed. The single part windscreen glazing is inserted from the outside, which will take some sensible choice of adhesive to avoid fogging, due to its prominence and clarity. Just as you thought it would be safe to close the fuselage, you have a set of full-depth intakes to build up, with their radar defeating s-shaped kinks, a simplified GE F-118 engine and the exhaust trunks. All of this is done four times, and they are then paired up with the intakes merging into their flattened profile, with the exhausts slipped through the rear, and the front glued to the underside of the nacelle. NOW you can close up the fuselage! However…. You will need more than 50 grams of noseweight, or it will be a tail sitter. Fortunately, there is a fair amount of space in there, but test-fit to ensure that it doesn't foul the join. At this stage she's wingless, but the instructions show you putting the myriad wheels (with separate brake details); bomb bay hinges and baffles, as well as all the bay doors as the next stage. It may be sensible to delay this until you have the wings on, to avoid knocking them all off during handling, with the associated bad language that usually entails. Each wing consists of two main parts that mate snugly with the fuselage, to which you add the three control surfaces and the outermost spoilers, which can be posed open or closed. Whether it is best to build up the wings as the instructions advise, or build each half onto the top or bottom part of the fuselage is difficult to say at this stage, but getting a good seam from the outset will doubtless give you a better finish, so ponder this before you start building. The final parts to go on are the two piece tail fairing, which has a large boxy tab and plenty of mating surface for a good grip. Speaking of mating surfaces, the wings are also fitted with two tabs, and there are large surfaces to bond, which should result in a strong join. There's also a trap waiting for you if you use clamps to hold the wings together, as it is possible to over-compress the leading edge joint, which will result in an overhang on the underside and a curved lower wing surface. The same is also true of the leading edge of the fuselage, but careful gluing and taping should see things turn out well, just keep checking that nothing has slipped whilst drying, as it will take a lot of effort (and filler) to correct if it sets up with a lip. Markings RAM is the colour, and that grey is given an FS number of 36118, and you will need a lot, because this is a pretty big aircraft. The various bay interiors are white, and the exhaust pathways are a grotty metallic colour, which you'd be best looking at some references to reproduce accurately, and the same advice could be applied to the grey of the RAM. From the factory the Spirit was a nice fairly uniform grey, but over the years with new applications of patches of RAM, the effects of the weather and flying for long periods through all sorts of conditions, it can appear a myriad of shades. The decals have been designed by Two Bobs, who have a good reputation as decal makers in their own right, and printing is by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. There are lots of walkways with some large expanses of carrier film between the tramlines, but unless you prefer manhandling long floppy lines, this is pretty much the only sensible design choice. Ensure that the surface is nice and glossy before you put them down, express all the air from under them on application, and they should go down nicely. Any remedial work on silvering is easily done by piercing the film with a blade or pin, then applying more decal setting solution. Lots of "No Step" symbols are included, and from the box you can build one of the following: SN 82-1066 Spirit of America 509th Bomb Wing Whiteman AFB, Montana March 2012 SN 82-1068 Spirit of New York 509th 13th Bomb Squadron, Whiteman AFB, Montana, July 2012 SN 82-1071 Spirit of Mississippi 509th Bomb Wing 13th Bomb Squadron, Whiteman AFB, Montana October 2004 Most of the decals are loviz grey, with the exception of the sensor panels, which are black with silver details, the ejection seat warning triangles, and some black/yellow hazard stripes that are applied to the inside edges of the gear bays. Conclusion Awesome. It's a great looking model of an aircraft that is either amazing or dull and grey, depending on which side of the fence you sit. I'm erring toward the amazing side of things, and hope to build this one soon. The detail level has been pitched just right for the average modeller, and there's nothing too tricky to deal with, other than the large decals. Care in painting the exterior will make the model, giving it the kind of patina that can be seen on the real thing. Super-mega highly recommended, as it's a monster, even at this scale! Review sample courtesy If you really want to go to town on the detail, Eduard have already released a raft of PE sets and masks that you can find here.

This is an out-of-the-box build of the Italeri boxing of the Platz X-47B UCAS. This is a really nice kit to work on, with great surface detail and it goes together nicely: no filler here! There are some well-thought touches in the design of the kit that make it an easy build (for example, the jet exhaust is just a push-fit) and just a few mould release marks that need filling. I couldn’t find confirmation that the X-47B ever flew with weapons but there are a couple of nice GBU-31 JDAMs that fill the large and quite plain weapon bays well, so I used them. The colour scheme is Ammo MiG F36270 over a dark grey primer base with a light Paynes Grey wash. The decals seemed quite thick but behaved well. It certainly looks different on the shelf! Chris

The Northrop Grumman prototype for the USAF T-X competition has been spotted preparing for high-speed taxi testing in Mojave, CA. It is reportedly powered by a GE 404 jet engine. The aircraft is being designed by NG's Scaled Composites Division and will be one of the contenders to replace the T-38. To my eyes, there is a bit of F-5, T-38, and F-20 (all Northrop products) in this new design. We'll see! Boeing/Saab will unveil their clean sheet T-X prototype in September. Lockheed will go with the T-50, and Raytheon is teaming with Aermacchi to offer a version of the M-346/T-100. Cheers, Bill